Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Terrifying Palace Maid

She reached for me!

Don’t be afraid. We have our little spikes. If she tries to touch us, we’ll prick her with them!

All right. Watch me.

Little spikies? Fu Bao stared at the tiny thorns bristling all over the little fleshy lump.

With a sharp little sound, one of the spikes was already lying in Fu Bao’s palm.

The little thorny thing: ...

Why do you never do things the way they’re supposed to be done?

Oh dear, just look at you. Such a lovely flower, and some wicked person has gone and stuck you with spikes! Don’t worry, I’ll help you pull them out.

With that, Fu Bao rolled up her sleeves and was ready to get to work.

Stop!

Why?

Those are our protective spikes. If you pull them all out, what are we supposed to do?

But if you leave them, they’ll jab the young lady.

No.

Oh.

In the end, Bai Yulan took Fu Bao out of the shop for a stroll, planning to walk off their meal and wait until the smell of vegetables had left her body before heading home, or else Han Hua’s dog-like nose would sniff it out.

Han Hua: Madam, that sounds as if I’m mistreating you.

The shop boy came up to tidy the private room and found that their little fleshy lump had gone bald and had a little cloth tied around it, the kind used for wiping mouths. Where on earth had the spikes gone?

The fleshy lump, gnawing on a handkerchief: Villain!

Fu Bao: Without its spikes, it would be cold!

In the Han residence—

Mother, has your health improved at all? After her own recovery, the Duchess Han personally attended to the old matriarch. She looked at Lady Han’s complexion and found it fairly good.

Much better. Your own body still hasn’t fully recovered, so there is no need for you to keep waiting on me.

Mother, I’m much better now. You needn’t worry about me.

Good. And where is Zixuan?

He is in the study reading. Perhaps Mother’s illness frightened the child. He says he wants to pass the imperial examinations and make something of himself.

That child! He should be enjoying himself while he still can. He’s barely grown and already thinking about taking the examinations!

Heh heh.

Also, Yulan, have the kitchen prepare some nourishing dishes, and see to my care properly. This is Hua’er’s first child, and nothing must go wrong.

Of course.

And from now on, if there is any letter from the palace, bring it to me first. Without my orders, no one is to enter the palace.

Thinking of what she had seen and felt there, Lady Han’s gaze turned distant and dark.

Mother?

Just do as I say. I still have some matters to investigate.

Duchess Han was puzzled.

That night, Bai Yulan and Fu Bao had played themselves into a frenzy. When they returned home, they saw Han Hua standing at the gate of the courtyard with a black face.

Bai Yulan: Oh dear, what bad luck.

Fu Bao: Uncle is indeed very stingy. I must behave myself.

Where have you been?

Why are you being so fierce?

I asked where you went, and what you did.

You’re being fierce to me?

Han Hua: ...

Damn it, I can’t ask any further.

I wasn’t being fierce. I just want to know where you went.

If you weren’t being fierce, why sound so fierce?

...

In the end, the matter of the two sneaking out concluded perfectly with Fu Bao’s little uncle-in-law kneeling on the washboard for two hours.

The imperial palace—

What place is this?

All around was pitch darkness. Han Wu groped her way through the blackness. She had been perfectly well in her sleeping chamber, and in the blink of an eye she was here.

Then a voice came from the darkness.

This is a fine place indeed. Han Wu, your Han clan’s ducal household caused the death of my grand-disciple. Should I avenge this grudge, or not?

Who are you? What do you want?

Hmph. Stay here quietly. Still, I must thank you for the vital energy you gave me some time ago. It let me take human form. Hahaha!

Come back! Who are you, exactly? Come back!

At that very moment, a maid in the Consort Shu’s palace discovered that something was wrong with her mistress. No matter how she called, she would not wake. She lay there still, as if she had no breath left at all.

In an instant, the rear palace fell into uproar. Around a corner, a maid with a very broad face and a very large mouth drew back her long tongue with a cold laugh, then turned and left.